2008 finished off in fairly good shape with Off The Kuffe providing one weekend of music, to my personal way of thinking I rate this band very highly, I think their entertainment value is great along with their music which can be drawn on from a huge repertoire of material.

Party weekend was catered for musically by Trevor Moyles & Band, who, true to form had the dance floor full all night, every night. Not hearing much about these boys recently, wonder what they are doing.

Seeing the year out were Sean Wilson & Tony Mac, who, as expected provided the right kind of music for the time of year and were enjoyed by all who heard them. Unfortunately the boys experienced transport problems whilst in the area, but travelling the miles these touring bands do it is inevitable that breakdowns occur.

January saw a lull with no touring acts in the area and things looked brighter for early February when Shawn Cuddy & Band were coming in to start off our music year, Shawn & Band came in and the snow came down, but this did not deter the boys, they made it to all the gigs and put on their usual very lively, high energy show, considering the weather audiences were reasonable but many Shawn Cuddy fans could not get along and were missed.

Thomas Maguire & Fhiona Ennis are in the last weekend in February, thankfully the weather forecast is good, so they should have no travel problems.

The following weekend sees Helen McCabe coming in to work with local boys Broken Wing Band, it is a pity there is such a distance between Helen & this band as the show they put on is brilliant, especially when they feature the twin fiddles(bands bass man doubles on fiddle) A couple of weeks later sees The Indians in the area.

The following weekend sees Paddy O’Brien & Band and Brendan Quinn (solo) in the area, I must admit I am looking forward to hearing a full night of Brendan Quinn.

April sees no less than three major names on the Irish circuit in the Highlands------Robert Mizzell & The Country Kings make their debut visit to Scotland on 10^th,11^th & 12^th---Robert is in the area doing some promotional radio work from 2^nd to 5^th March, you can hear him on NECE, Waves Radio ,KCR and Moray Forth Radio and then live in April.

The following Weekend sees Declan Nerney & Band in the area, Declan needs no introduction and has always enjoyed a very loyal fan following in The Highlands.

The next weekend sees The Country King Mick Flavin & Band round this way, another name which has been appearing here regularly over a lot of years.

In these uncertain times of “credit crunch” and such like I feel that April will create a make or break situation in the area, if the gigs are well attended I think we can look ahead to a reasonably healthy year-------if they are not well attended??????????

Anyone planning spending time in  this area at any time this year feel free to contact me and I can let you know what is happening in the live music scene, my email is anncarmody@btinternet.com or my telephone number is 01463 221268

Until next time keep healthy and support as much live music as possible.

Ann Carmody